Telephone craftspersons employ impact termination tools for installing and terminating electrical conductors at terminal blocks of telephone equipment installations. FIG. 1 diagrammatically illustrates a non-limitative example of such a termination tool, corresponding to that described in the Mason et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,161,061, assigned to the assignee of the present application and the disclosure of which is herein incorporated. As shown in FIG. 1, such a tool 11 is of the type used to connect an electrical conductor to a terminal, and is comprised of a manually engageable handle 13, a forward end 15 of which has a longitudinal bore 16 which contains a slide element 17 that is axially translatable within the bore. The slide element itself is configured to retain a termination blade 21, the termination blade having a tip 23 which conforms with the shape of a terminal located on a terminal block (not shown) used in terminating electrical conductors such as telephone wires at terminal posts or clips. The tool is further internally equipped with an impact mechanism, shown diagrammatically at 25, which is positioned to controllably deliver an impact blow to a cylindrical pin portion 27 of slide element 17 and thereby cause the termination blade to insert a wire into a terminal. Advantageously, the configuration of the patented slide element provides for rapid manual interlock and removal of the termination blade 21 from the slide element 17, and also allows for substantial lateral loading (transverse to the longitudinal axis of the tool) of the blade during use.
As those working in the technology are aware, increasing demands for better efficiency and reduction in service overhead have made it desirable to integrate as many functions as possible in a given piece of service equipment. Since a termination tool is configured as a manual hand tool, having a handle and metallic shaft extension that has been conventionally configured to capture and axially manipulate a specially shaped workpiece modifying element (termination blade), it would be advantageous and constitute a more efficient use of the tool, if a terminal insertion tool had the additional capability of performing auxiliary functions, so as to limit the need for the craftsperson to carry additional tools dedicated for the purpose. In particular, it is desirable that the tool be versatile enough to perform rotational (torque) functions, so that commonly used hardware fasteners, such as slotted and Phillips head bolts and screws, may be removed and installed using the termination tool.